Waverton to Wrenbury

Tue 26th Jun  Waverton to Dales Bridge 110

We made an early start to avoid the heat.  Once again we had a very slow cruise past lots of moored boats.  We noticed that some of the bridges had curious stepped parapets, a bit like the ones on the Bridgwater Canal.

Bridge with stepped parapet

The cruise took us past Tattenhall Marina and towards Beeston Castle.  We tried to find shady moorings, but some were too shallow. We finally found a spot with a high hedge near Dales Bridge.

Our mooring near Dales Bridge

Hugo was happy

We spent the day sitting on chairs trying to keep cool.  We noticed a lot of butterflies here.

Meadow Brown butterfly

Later on we had a glorious sunset

Sunset

0 locks, 5 miles

Wed 27th Jun  Dales Bridge to Calvely

Dawn at Dales Bridge

Soon after Wharton’s Lock we found some giant hogweed, which we reported using our Plant Tracker app. It is an alien species, but we don’t see it very often. The ones we report most are Japanese Knotweed and Floating Pennywort.

Giant Hogweed

The area around Beeston is very sandy, and the first lock here is made of iron plates to overcome moving sand below it.  Boats are not meant to share this lock.  There is a notice warning of this, and it also says boats may get caught on the joins of the overlapping iron plates.  Then, stupidly, it says boats should tie to the side with ropes. We stayed out in the middle.

Beeston Iron Lock

Mallards have done very well this year. We have noticed many more duck families than in previous years.  Today we saw another very young family, just hatched, presumably a second brood.

Second brood mallards

The second lock at Beeston is made of stone, and has a circular brick lengthsman’s hut at the side. We have seen several of these between here and Chester.

Beeston Stone Lock

Circular lengthsman’s hut

Canal art

The final locks of the day were at Bunbury, where there are two together in a staircase.  There was a volunteer on duty, and he recognised us from last week. We were the first boat through today. He said that Calveley was pronounced Carvelly. We had been starting with Cal as in calculator.

Bunbury Staircase Locks

We moored on rings at Calveley, where we had met Norman on Bruin last week. We put our chairs out under some trees for shade.

We met two more people we know.  Firstly Sarah Rigsby walked past, as Rigs cruised past on Chardonnay. They moor in Aylesbury. We told them that Kay and Barry were up ahead somewhere.

Then a pink and white cruiser arrived, and moored in front of us. It was Thursday’s Child. We have met Brian before, and the first time was on the Wendover Arm several years ago. He speaks with a strong Yorkshire accent.

As it was hot and we wanted a cool drink and a little exercise, we decided to visit the pub in Calvely, marked on our Nicholson Guide.  We walked across the canal bridge, and then the railway bridge, and discovered that the pub had been knocked down, and a small estate of houses was going up there instead.

Where the pub used to be

We spoke to a local who was lamenting the loss of the only facility in the village. The village hall was also up for redevelopment, as was a public recreation ground.  He told us about another pub, the Tollemache Arms, along the main road.  We walked there, with noisy traffic whizzing past, and found the pub, which was quite pleasant, although they had no decent cider.

Rather than return along the main road, we walked down a lane to the canal at the Bunbury Staircase Locks, and back to the boat the scenic way.

Staircase locks

Old Canal Stables at Bunbury

6 locks, 4 miles

Thu 28th Jun  Calveley to Bridge 12 Llangollen Canal

Our mooring at Calvely with Thursday's Child

The first task today was to use the facilities at Calvely. Water, cassettes, rubbish.  There was also a fuel boat selling diesel at 83p per litre. We thought that was expensive, but we may regret not filling up.

Calvely facilities

We cruised alongside the busy A51, and past Barbridge Junction to Hurleston Junction, where the Llangollen Canal leaves the Shropshire Union.  There was no queue, so went straight into the bottom lock, which was almost empty.

Barbridge Junction

Hurleston Junction

Hurleston Locks

Into the first lock on the Llangollen Canal

There were two boats coming down the locks, both heading for Sharpness. It meant that the locks were set for us.

Meeting another boat

Hurleston Top Lock

We were once again looking for a shady mooring. We found one after Bridge 4, but as we were pulling to the side, a dog came running along the path to say hello. He was from another boat moored several boat lengths further on. We decided that this would not suit Hugo, so we reversed round the corner and moored up out of sight, where we had some nice shady trees.

Later the sun came round and we lost our shade, so we decided to move on. We passed Swanley Marina, and used the two Swanley Locks.

Swanley Locks

There were lots of horseflies in the sunny areas. Thankfully we found a place with a high hedge on one side, and woods on the other, just before Halls Lane Bridge, where we stopped. Thankfully there were no horse flies.

A lady walked slowly past, carrying two carrier bags, and Hazel asked if she was OK. She said she was fine.  A few minutes later, we spotted her lying on the path a few hundred yards back along the canal. James went to see if she was OK, and she sat up and said she just needed a rest. She declined any offer of help.  James returned to the boat, and half an hour later she had moved on, so hopefully she was alright.

6 locks, 7 miles

Fri 29th Jun  Bridge 12 Llangollen Canal to Wrenbury

Our mooring in the shade near Halls Lane Bridge

We had three locks to negotiate, and we noticed that the bridges are numbered starting at Hurleston with No 1.  The lock are not numbered, but are named. If there is a group of locks they are numbered within the group, but starting from the upstream lock. Thus we arrived at Baddiley No 3 Lock, and then No 2, and finally No1.

There is a flow on this canal all the way from Llangollen down to Hurleston, where the water runs off into Hurleston Reservoir.  There is a channel alongside each lock, where the water runs past, causing a side stream at the foot of each lock, which sometimes makes entering the lock a challenge.

Baddiley No 3 Lock

Side stream

Baddiley No 1 Lock

We stopped before Wrenbury Church Lift Bridge, where there are rings, and a high hedge to provide shade.  Beyond this bridge on the other side of the hedge there is a caravan site, with lots of youngsters making a noise. 

We walked along later to have a drink in the Dusty Miller pub (Old Rosie cider) followed by an ice cream at the Anglo Welsh boatyard.

Wrenbury Church Lift Bridge

As we left, three boats came through the lift bridge, with one trying to overtake another, and the first one having to wait to pick up crew. It was all a bit chaotic.  We had some good conversations with other boaters as we walked back to our boat, notably Annie, and O Be Joyful.

Later James found a live mouse in the bathroom, which was evicted onto the towpath via the window.

3 locks, 3 miles, 1 mouse

Sat 30th Jun  Wrenbury

This morning Hugo was hanging around outside the bathroom door where he had presumably lost his mouse.  We found the remains of another mouse on the carpet, so he had been busy.

We walked up a footpath from Starkey’s Bridge 18, which had several stiles. It brought us out very close to the village shop, which is a Spar and Post Office.  We had a look around in preparation for a visit after church on Sunday.

We had seen this poster yesterday, so we went to see what was happening.

Model Railway poster

We found a very active club, with several different gauges. Some of the layouts were very detailed and intricate, and we had some long conversations with enthusiastic members.

Model railway exhibition

This was followed by another visit to the Dusty Miller for a quiet drink before walking back to the boat along the towpath. 

The rear of the Dusty Miller pub

There weren’t so many boats today.  A lot were in the Anglo Welsh hire base as it was a changeover day.

Anglo Welsh hire base and Wrenbury Liftbridge

Later we will make a further visit to the Dusty Miller for an evening meal, where they serve excellent pies. James has been looking forward to this return visit since the last time in 2014.

No boating today

Next: 9.15am service tomorrow at St Margaret’s Church, Wrenbury, where we hope to meet Debbie, who gave us lunch in 2000, and Alison the vicar, whom we met in 2014. Then via Grindley Brook Locks, Whitchurch, and Whixall Moss, to Ellesmere for next Sunday.